Police Quest (also called SWAT) is a series of police simulation video games made and sold by Sierra On-Line from 1987 to 1998. The first five games in the series were adventure simulation games. The first three were created by Jim Walls, a former police officer. The fourth, fifth, and sixth games were designed by Daryl F. Gates, a former chief of the LAPD. The games called SWAT and SWAT 2 were still part of the Police Quest series and were numbered as V and VI, respectively. However, later games in the series no longer used the Police Quest name and were instead called SWAT.

Games

Jim Walls, the creator of the Police Quest games, wanted to include more details in the games but was not always happy with how the driving controls worked. However, he felt a sense of accomplishment when he received fan mail. When letters arrived from children who said they wanted to become police officers, he knew his work was making a positive impact.

The first three games were made by Jim Walls, a former police officer. These games follow the story of Sonny Bonds, a character whose name and appearance were loosely based on his own son, Sonny Walls. Jim Walls appears in each game, usually during the introduction.

Released in 1987 using Sierra's Adventure Game Interpreter parser engine, Police Quest places the player in the role of Sonny Bonds, a 15-year veteran police officer in the fictional town of Lytton, California. Sonny is assigned to traffic duty and investigates what seems like a simple car crash but discovers it is actually a murder. After a short break, he gives a traffic ticket, deals with a group of drunk bikers, and makes a DUI arrest. As the game progresses, Sonny advances from a patrol officer to a temporary narcotics detective and then to an undercover agent, hoping to find a drug dealer named Jessie Bains, known as "The Death Angel." To track Jessie Bains, Sonny teams up with Marie, a former high school sweetheart who now works as a prostitute.

This game was more realistic than other Sierra games from the late 1980s, such as Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, or Space Quest. It included puzzles that required following proper police procedures. The game was released for MS-DOS, Apple II, Mac, Amiga, Atari ST, and Apple II GS. A SCI1.1 enhanced version with 256-color VGA was released in 1992 and was the first game in the series without dead ends.

Released in 1988 using the SCI0 engine, Police Quest II again places the player as Sonny Bonds. After arresting Jessie Bains, Sonny is promoted to the homicide division and begins dating Marie, who helped him in exchange for her prostitution charges being dropped. However, Bains escapes from prison and seeks revenge. With the help of his partner, Keith, Sonny must protect Marie and himself while pursuing Bains again. Despite Sonny's efforts, Bains kills several people and abducts Marie. Sonny tracks Bains to Steelton, the home of Donald Colby, a reformed drug dealer from the first game.

Police Quest II is more mature than the first game and focuses heavily on proper police procedures. If Sonny fails to maintain his firearm correctly, it may malfunction or misfire. Entering dangerous situations without backup often results in death.

After Bains' death, Sonny and Marie marry. Sonny is promoted again and must deal with rising crime in Lytton, including a drug cartel and evidence of a satanic cult. When Marie is stabbed in a mall parking lot, Sonny's work becomes personal. He must also deal with a partner who has questionable ethics and find patterns in crimes to uncover his next lead. The Bains family plays a role in this game.

Released in 1991 for SCI version 1, Police Quest III is completely mouse-driven. It was only available for the IBM PC and Amiga. Before the game was completed, Jim Walls left Sierra for reasons that remain unexplained. Jane Jensen finished the final in-game dialogue and messages. Daryl F. Gates, founder of SWAT, took over the Police Quest series, while Walls and others went on to create Blue Force, an adventure game similar to Police Quest.

Later games in the series were designed by Tammy Dargan and produced by Daryl Gates, who made cameo appearances in each game. Police Quest IV and V were later rebranded as the SWAT series. Unlike earlier games, these were listed as "Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest" instead of using numbered titles, though numbered titles appeared on packaging and printed materials.

Daryl F. Gates' first game for Sierra, released in 1993, marked a significant change. The player is no longer Sonny Bonds but John Carey, an LAPD homicide detective in Los Angeles, California. Carey must track a serial murderer after his best friend is killed in the line of duty. The game includes mature themes such as hate crimes, Neo-Nazism, and youth involvement in crime. Graphic content includes a child's body from gang violence and a severed head in a refrigerator.

Using SCI2, the game replaced earlier graphics with scanned photos as backgrounds and live actors filmed on a green screen as character sprites. It was released for IBM PC and Macintosh but is incompatible with Windows 95 and later versions. Some parts of the game, such as the shooting gallery, may cause crashes, though this was fixed in the CD version with a Windows installer.

This game is the most mature in the Police Quest series. Themes of drug abuse, police corruption, and gang violence are central, while police procedures take a backseat to storytelling. Though the title screen does not list the game as "PQV," it is referred to as such in files, credits, and packaging. Police Quest 5: SWAT was later included in the Police Quest Collection, SWAT Force, SWAT Career Pack, and SWAT Generation compilations.

Police Quest: SWAT 2 is the sixth and final game in the original Police Quest series. It is a real-time strategy game using a new engine and includes only a few adventure game elements, such as an inventory and puzzle items like a pizza. It is referred to as "PQ6" in files. Sonny Bonds is one of the agents the player can use. The game was included in the SWAT Force and SWAT Generation compilations.

The Police Quest series continued after Open Season with two more games, which led to the SWAT series and a shift to different video game genres. SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle and SWAT 4 are tactical shooters, the only games of that type in the series. SWAT 4 is the final game in the eight-game series, though it has little connection to the original games, except for cameos by Marie Bonds in SWAT 3 and Sonny Bonds as a SWAT unit lieutenant in SWAT 4.

At this point, neither Jim Walls nor Daryl Gates were involved in developing the series, though Gates was a consultant on SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle alongside LAPD advisor Kenneth A. Thatcher. The first SWAT game—technically Police Quest 5: SWAT—was released as part of this transition.

Attempts to continue the series

On July 16, 2013, Jim Walls introduced a Kickstarter campaign for a game called Precinct, which was meant to be a new game in the Police Quest series. Robert Lindsley, a former employee of Sierra, was chosen as the game’s executive producer. The game was to be made by a new company called Jim Walls Reloaded, where Lindsley also worked as president. The game aimed to use the classic Sierra adventure game style but with modern updates. The campaign had a goal of raising $500,000, and backers had until August 16 to contribute. However, Walls ended the campaign early on August 6, having raised $85,756 from 1,870 supporters.

Later, Walls and Lindsley announced a different fundraising plan for Precinct, which they described as "new and unique." This plan did not have a strict deadline, and the game would be released once enough money was raised. This effort also failed, ending after two weeks. Lindsley said, "We simply don't have the momentum needed to meet the requirements of this project." Despite this, Walls and Lindsley still hope to complete Precinct in the future.

In August 2014, Activision restarted the Sierra Entertainment label, which means future games in the Police Quest series could be made, as Sierra owns the rights to the franchise.

Collections and re-releases

The first re-release of the games in a collection was made in 1995 as Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest Collection: The Four Most Wanted. The package was released under the Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest series title to take advantage of the newly released Daryl F. Gates' Police Quest: SWAT. Additional items included behind-the-scenes history with the game creators, a shortened version of the L.A. police department manual, and a video interview with Daryl F. Gates.

The second re-release collection was made in 1997 as Police Quest Collection Series. It included Police Quest 1–3, Open Season, and SWAT. It also included the Daryl Gates interview and the documentation from the previous collection.

The two Police Quest: SWAT games were re-released in 1999 in a collection called Police Quest: SWAT Force.

The third re-release collection was made in 2000 as the "SWAT Career Pack," which included all six Police Quest games: 1–3, Open Season, SWAT, and SWAT 2. It also included a demo for SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle.

In 2003, the first three SWAT games were released in the Police Quest: SWAT Generation compilation.

In September 2006, Vivendi Games released Police Quest Collection: Step Behind the Badge, including the first four Police Quest games, excluding the original AGI version of PQ1. The package included the DOSBox emulator for compatibility with Windows XP.

Since January 18, 2011, the Police Quest 1–4 and Police Quest: SWAT 1 & 2 packs have been internationally available at GOG.com as digital downloads. The 2.0 installer for the Police Quest 1–4 pack added the original EGA version of PQ1. In 2017, SWAT 3 and SWAT 4 were both added to GOG. A community-driven online backend is available for SWAT 4's multiplayer after the shutdown of Gamespy.